1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle operation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle operation systems are used by operators to operate onboard devices installed in vehicles. Such a conventional vehicle operation system includes, for example, a lever operation unit provided to a steering column and a detecting unit provided at an end of the lever operation unit to detect the movement of a hand or a finger, so that the operator can operate the vehicle operation system without removing the hands from the steering wheel (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-144693, for example). The detecting unit according to the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-144693 is disposed at the end of the lever operation unit. When the detecting unit, which is configured to detect contact operations, detects a contact operation by the operator, it causes an onboard device to function. The lever operation unit also includes a rotational operation unit (knob) provided to a lever body thereof, and the operator can turn the rotational operation unit about the axis line of the lever body.
When the operator turns the rotational operation unit about the axis line of the lever body, the operator may unintentionally touch the detecting unit disposed at the end of the lever operation unit with a hand or a finger. If the detecting unit detects such an unintentional contact as a contact operation, the detecting unit causes the onboard device to function, which is not intended by the operator. Thus, the conventional vehicle operation system has room for improvement in terms of preventing the operator from unintentionally operating onboard devices.